


Wildflowers

by XQueen0fHellx



Series: 14 Days of Dragon Age Lovers [1]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types
Genre: F/F, F/M, Multi, Poly Trio, Red Lyrium, assassinations, keeper magic, signature, wildflowers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-15
Updated: 2021-02-15
Packaged: 2021-03-16 12:27:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,549
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29453784
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/XQueen0fHellx/pseuds/XQueen0fHellx
Summary: What was supposed to be a cutesy piece with flower crowns took a darker turn as my writing got away from me again. Unconsciously also likely inspired by Tevinter Nights. My favorite elf trio goes hunting. It was also supposed to be fore the polyshipping event on the 1st but I was late whoops.Thanks to my Beta @Fairfaxleasee
Relationships: Alistair/Zevran Arainai/Leliana/Female Mahariel, Leliana/Female Mahariel (Dragon Age), Merrill/Female Warden, Zevran Arainai/Female Mahariel, Zevran Arainai/Female Warden, Zevran Arainai/Merrill, Zevran Arainai/Merrill/Female Warden, Zevran Arainai/Merrill/OC
Series: 14 Days of Dragon Age Lovers [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2165274





	Wildflowers

Aria slipped through the cover of night, her dark armor helping her blend in. She stopped at the corner of an alley, observing the house across the way. The well-trained guards moved with the precision of clockwork, every pass taking the same amount of steps. Very rarely did they falter, leaving almost no opening.

The elves had done their homework though. The guard currently on duty was afraid of dogs. Thank the Gods for small blessings. She counted his steps, waiting to give the signal. As he got into position, she flicked her hand behind her back, where it would be seen by another of her group.

The snarling of wolves filled the alley, and Aria started to climb the building as Merrill called upon magic to emulate the sounds of nature. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a dark shape slip past the clearly unnerved guard, and she knew the first part was a success.

Reaching the top, she found her bow right where she left it. She scurried along a few rooftops, stopping adjacent to a closed window. She crouched, settling in to wait. Merrill soon joined her, a little more out of breath than the agile rogue. She plopped in besides her clanmate, resting her head on Aria’s shoulder. 

They sat like that in silence, until the window opened on a whisper of soft hinges. With a smile, Aria rose, handing Merrill and arrow from her quiver. The mage whispered a few words and the shaft glowed faintly green, a feeling of life pouring into the rogue's hand as she pulled the bowstring back.

The arrow flew to the far wall through the window, leaving a vine trailing behind that ended at her fingertips. Aria tied it off, Merrill whispering another few words and the vines thickened, becoming a firm tightrope. 

She leaned down to kiss the slightly shorter elf, who returned it, placing a flower crown upon her head. She grinned like a fool as she jumped onto their makeshift rope, running as fast as she dared before leaping down into the room. Merrill touched the vine, allowing it to disintegrate in a mess of leaves, and Aria yanked the arrow from the wall as Zevran closed the window. 

"Sorry to keep you waiting, mi cierva." He too received a kiss, before they headed down the hallway together. When a guard came in sight, Zev ducked behind a statue, while Aria took to the walls, leaping off each one until she reached the ceiling, holding herself in place with outstretched limbs. Her bow jangled against her back and she cursed under her breath, but thankfully luck was on her side as the man passed underneath without noticing.

She tightened the straps holding it on once she reached the floor, giving it a stern look before running ahead to the next room. Here they split up, exiting out of different doors. Their target would be one way, while important documents would be the other.

The office door was locked, and Aria rummaged in her pouches for her lockpicks. She heard the approaching footsteps and ducked for cover inside the room across the wall, cursing her luck at finding the privy, wrinkling her nose at the stench. Still, she counted off a few seconds after the footsteps receded, then went back to adjusting tumblers on the lock.

The door swung inward and she slipped inside. Papers were everywhere, surprising coming from such an organized person. With a sigh she set to work looking for the ones she wanted, trade manifests, slave documents, and anything else that might come in handy. Finding what she needed took longer than expected, but she managed, and planted a few damning documents of her own.

Satisfied, she waited at the door for the guard to pass by once again, and she locked it behind her as she went in search of her next task.

Merrill never did like it when they did this. The idea of murder still made the mage uncomfortable. Still, even she couldn't deny that these people had it coming. The trio targeted slavers, and those that would wish harm to their friends, and the mage conceded the point. Her only stipulation was that they kill as few other people as possible. That one annoyed Aria to no end until Zevran made it a game, an exciting challenge he called it, although not in so few words. 

Before finding the assassin, Aria took a detour, using the rafters whenever possible when she made her way downstairs. Her destination was a room they suspected to be a vault of some sort. 

The door was nondescript, no guards in sight, and seemingly waiting for her. She frowned, knowing it wouldn't be that easy. The hair on the back of her neck pricked as she approached and an uneasy feeling settled in her stomach. A familiar ringing in her ears made her look around, but there was no way there were darkspawn here, so it must be normal ringing instead of her Grey Warden senses.

She inspected the door and as she suspected, there were signs of a half dozen traps, each more lethal than the next. The ringing in her ears didn't stop as she fiddled with the levers, carefully disarming the traps. She shook her head to try to clear it to no avail. It was suspicious that there were no guards at all, they were really committed to making it not look like a vault.

After the last trap was neutralized, the lock fell away much easier. Smug, she pushed the door open and her heart fell as the ringing grew to a fever pitch. 

"Fenedhis!"

The room was right out of her nightmares. Elves in various states of health filled cages in the room. A red glow gave most of them a nasty hue, crystals growing out of some. Various tables and tools spoke of unspeakable experiments done to flesh, bloodstains dark in the light. 

The lyrium rang in her ears and sang in her head, a song similar to that which she heard in dreams long past. She had heard that red lyrium was tainted, but had never experienced it herself. 

She didn't know how long she stood there. She didn't comprehend her feet carrying her to the closest cluster. All she knew was it sang to her, an intoxicating melody. 

Literal roots burst from the stones beneath her to prevent her from moving. A crack sounded in her ears as a noise not unlike shattering glass resounded. She slowly lost the song in her head, but not completely. It was enough though to get her back to her senses, as she took in the two people she loved most in the world, smashing crystal with staff and - was that a table leg?

With the largest lyrium crystals smashed, the roots receded, and she found herself embraced in a hug, the dark haired elf behind it sobbing. "Don't scare us like that again lethallan!"

At her confusion, Zev explained. "It's been at least an hour since we parted ways, mi amor, I thought our little flower here was going to bring down the whole building when I beat you back." Had it really been that long? She stoked the black hair, stopping when she realized she was moving her hands to the rhythm of the song. 

"I need to get away from this. What do we do about them?" Her eyes gestured to the room. The others looked as lost as she did. No one knew enough about red lyrium, there was no cure, just like with the taint. And with her reaction to the lyrium, she had no clue if a joining would help them at all. Not a single one of them lacked some sort of sign of the lyrium.

"We give them peace. Just like Tamlen." Those big eyes looked up at her and she swallowed hard. That would be for the best. She didn't trust herself to get too near the elves, so she stood in the doorway and drew her bow while the other two went to work. 

It didn't make the song go away, and she knew it wouldn't entirely until she put a lot of distance between her and this place. Papers caught her eye and while she didn't really wish to know more, it was the diagrams that made her think twice. 

"Merrill." She called the other elf attention as anger grew in her. 

She trotted over and gasped, confirming the rogue’s suspicions. "Those markings, they’re like Fenris’..."

The notes on the effects of red lyrium also discussed possibilities of combining it with the artifact to imbue one with lyrium tattoos. The idea made her sick and she tossed the parchment in her bag. How many others were out there like this performing sick experiments? How many will they have to put out of their misery instead of liberating?

There was none of the usual elation when they left, no smug smiles as the three went to find comfort in one another's arms. Aria placed the crown on the table without looking back, their signature; a circlet of wildflowers, more than a few of them daisies, with three crow feathers painted white hanging off the back.


End file.
